This invention relates generally to an ice piece ejection mechanism for icemakers. In particular it relates to an icemaker with a mold that forms the ice pieces into crescent shaped pieces usually joined together by a thin web of ice and is an improvement upon the prior art ejection mechanism of such an icemaker. Automatic icemakers of this type usually have an underlying storage bin into which the ice pieces fall when harvested from the icemaker mold. To prevent overfilling the bin, the icemaker has a feeler arm which may be periodically lowered into the bin and raised to an elevated position. During each cycle of the icemaker the feeler arm is lowered and if it strikes ice pieces preventing it from reaching its lower position a switching arrrangement prevents harvesting the ice pieces until the feeler arm can subsequently reach its lower position. In icemaker of the type involved it is desirable to eject the ice pieces from the crescent cube icemaker so that they fall into the storage bin further from the icemaker in lateral distance. This prevent ice piece build up in the stroage bin directly under the mold. In some applications the icemaker is not centered over the storage bin and unless the ice pieces are propelled from the icemaker to the center of the storage bin the bin is filled unevenly and at a much lower level. It is also desirable that the ice pieces fall in a manner to maximize impact breakup of the thin webs of ice joining the ice together. This allows for better operation of an automatic ice piece dispenser associated with the icemaker and the ice pieces ejected therefrom. Users of the ice pieces also prefer that they be in individual pieces. It is further desirable that the ice pieces fall into an underlying storage bin after the feeler arm of the icemaker is fully raised, thus preventing later raising of the feeler arm causing ejected ice pieces to be pushed out of the storage bin during that motion.
One ice piece ejection mechanism that provides for the ice pieces to fall further from the icemaker in lateral distance than previously and tumble end over end into the storage bin, thus maximizing the force to aid in breaking the web between the ice pieces being ejected from the icemaker is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,614,088 and assigned to the same assignee of the present invention. The ice piece ejection mechanism disclosed in the patent allows time for the feeler arm to be in its rasied position and therefore not to be hampered in its operation due to the ice pieces falling on top of the feeler arm when in its down position. While the ice piece ejection mechanism disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,614,088 has been found satisfactory under most situations there are some dispensing situations that could be improved by modifying the icemaker and those modifications are disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,465 assigned to the same assignee as the present invention. U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,465 utilizes a rigid ice piece ejector guide positioned above and longitudinally along the mold. The guide and rotating ejector cooperate to remove the ice pieces from the mold and onto a stripper member with sufficient force that they remove any previously harvested ice pieces from the stripper member.
The icemaker to which the present invention specifically relates is described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 3,276,225 and one of the ways of ejecting ice pieces from such an icemaker is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,949,749. The problem with the ejecting means of U.S. Pat. No. 2,949,749 is that it requires rotating the ejector twice and in two opposite directions, thus there must be two harvest operations to finally deposit the ice pieces into the storage bin. This detrimentally affects the rate at which the ice pieces are delivered to the storage bin for use.
By this invention an improved icemaker is provided that ejects crescent ice pieces to an underlying storage bin.